You are here

Beijing authorities released Wan Yanhai, founder of the HIV/AIDS advocacy group the Beijing Zhiaixing Information and Counseling Center (Zhiaixing), formerly called the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education, on the morning of November 27 after having held him for three nights without charge, according to a November 27 Associated Press article (via the International Herald Tribune) and a December 1 Amnesty International public statement. According to a November 27 Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CRD) report and a November 26 Washington Post article, security officers who carried no identification but claimed to be from the Beijing Public Security Bureau came to Zhiaixing's offices on the morning of November 24 and asked to see Wan.

Beijing authorities released Wan Yanhai, founder of the HIV/AIDS advocacy group the Beijing Zhiaixing Information and Counseling Center (Zhiaixing), formerly called the Aizhixing Institute of Health Education, on the morning of November 27 after having held him for three nights without charge, according to a November 27 Associated Press article (via the International Herald Tribune) and a December 1 Amnesty International public statement. According to a November 27 Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CRD) report and a November 26 Washington Post article, security officers who carried no identification but claimed to be from the Beijing Public Security Bureau came to Zhiaixing's offices on the morning of November 24 and asked to see Wan. Wan subsequently called Zhiaixing staff into the room where he was being questioned and, in the presence of the security officers, told his staff to cancel the "Blood Safety, AIDS, and Legal Human Rights" conference. The officers then took Wan away. The conference was scheduled to be held from November 25 to November 30 in advance of World AIDS Day on December 1.

This was the second incident of Chinese government harassment of AIDS activists in recent months. On July 18, officials from Ningling county, Henan province, held Li Xige and seven other women in Beijing, according to the June-August China Human Rights Briefing, published by CRD. The officials then forced the women to return to Ningling, where they were questioned. The women had traveled to Beijing to petition the Ministry of Health regarding their demands for compensation from the Ningling government, in connection with their having been infected with HIV from blood transfusions. Authorities released five of the women on July 20, but charged Li and two other women with "gathering people to assault a state organ," a crime under Article 290 of the Criminal Law. Authorities released the other two women on bail for medical reasons on July 27 and August 2, and released Li on August 11. Amnesty International reports that after Li's release, she has been subjected to police surveillance and restrictions in movement and communication with the media. While traveling to Beijing to attend the Zhiaixing-sponsored conference, she was held on November 21 at the Beijing railway station by Ningling officials and was sent home the following day.

As the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) noted in its 2006 Annual Report, China's central government continues to take steps to prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS. For example, the State Council issuedRegulations on AIDS Prevention and Control in January 2006 that intended to address the dominant modes of HIV/AIDS transmission in China: intravenous drug use and sexual contact. At the same time Beijing authorities were harassing Wan Yanhai, state-run media outlets, including Xinhua, the Guangming Daily, and the People's Daily, (all in Chinese) were publicizing the government's efforts in AIDS prevention and treatment.

Repeated government custody of AIDS activists such as Wan, Li, and Hu Jia demonstrate that the government's recognition of the need to address the threat of HIV/AIDS is often outweighed by its desire to maintain control over civil society groups and halt the emergence of independent organizations. This is also not the first time the Chinese government has interfered with, and harassed participants of, international conferences. In May 2005, Chinese government authorities abruptly canceled a planned international academic conference on constitutionalism and democracy that was jointly organized by Fordham University and the China University of Politics and Law. In June 2005, security officers in Beijing detained the executive director of a respected U.S. human rights NGO after she attended a seminar associated with the EU-China bilateral human rights dialogue.